Happy wrote:ha ha this spot x is private no ones seeing pics of that. Got older and wiser than that Never poached any thing other than eggs in my life never been that hungry.

Ahh I can understand that 'Happy' I got my official poaching licence at the same time I acquired my Commercial Helicopter Licence I guess. But poaching was the sport of Gentlemen before that. No culler was worth a damn we all used to say unless he knew all of the country within a three day hike of his own block boundary. The urge to travel in far places and the ability to fly camp for long periods happy with your own company maketh the man, maketh the poacher. I once woke up in the morning and thought I better head back to base for tail count on the way back I figured I was probably 60 miles off my block.

I must tell you a story about that. Jim Warren and I would head of to our respective blocks for a month with plans to meet up at a certain hut on a certain day with plans to do a big poach some where. Our ears would still be ringing with the warning from our Field officer 'Henry Dorrian' that we would be sacked if didn't stay on our own block. Jim and I had talked about how Henry seemed to know about our poaching trips. I was of the firm belief and said so, that 'Henry' was bluffing about knowing we were poaching. It wasn't until the end of the season that we found out what was up and I still squirm at the thought of the lies we used to tell to Henry's face. Jim was an avid photographer and took photos of everything we saw and of course our Mail all went to Henry's place.I still cant believe it but Henry opened Jims photos when the Chemist mailed them back and he studied photos of Rivers, Huts, Swing-bridges that even he had never seen before. So such is the bloody perfidity of Field Officers who in their day had been the biggest Poachers themselves.

I still think poacher is a much maligned term. We were caught poaching a block in the Kaimanawas. My pilot was prosecuted and they tried it on me but I denied all knowledge of the event or being there. I figured that as the shooter half the time I did not even know where he was so they had no case. They dropped the charges on me. But it is hard for me to believe in a system, in fact I don't believe in one, where on public land people can be prosecuted for hunting animals that in the long and short term that are destined to be culled by Helicopter or poisoned deliberately by aerial 1080 drops.

But it is hard for me to believe in a system, in fact I don't believe in one, where on public land people can be prosecuted for hunting animals that in the long and short term that are destined to be culled by Helicopter or poisoned deliberately by aerial 1080 drops.

And I agree with the above completely. Doing that in privately owned blocks must however be the same as killing someones beefy Its kinda theft at the end of that for sure....

Happy wrote:And I agree with the above completely. Doing that in privately owned blocks must however be the same as killing someones beefy Its kinda theft at the end of that for sure....

Wrong! Unless your private land is deer-fenced, and the animals within that fence are ear-tagged, the animals living on that block are wild animals. They are not the property of the land owner. They are crown property. In effect part of the Commons. The land owner has the right to restrict access to the property, or even charge for access to the property, but he may not sell the right to shoot an animal or charge to hunt an animal that is not his property. Doing so is theft.To be clear, a land owner selling hunting rights, or charging per animal shot, is a thief. The person purchasing the right , or an animal from a landowner is a receiver of stolen property. Both are criminals. Wild animals are the property of us all, until legally taken. All that means is that you have the permission of the landowner. In the case of public land, of which I am one of the owners, I have always taken the view that I have granted myself permission to hunt.

Happy wrote:And I agree with the above completely. Doing that in privately owned blocks must however be the same as killing someones beefy Its kinda theft at the end of that for sure....

Wrong! Unless your private land is deer-fenced, and the animals within that fence are ear-tagged, the animals living on that block are wild animals. They are not the property of the land owner. They are crown property. In effect part of the Commons. The land owner has the right to restrict access to the property, or even charge for access to the property, but he may not sell the right to shoot an animal or charge to hunt an animal that is not his property. Doing so is theft.To be clear, a land owner selling hunting rights, or charging per animal shot, is a thief. The person purchasing the right , or an animal from a landowner is a receiver of stolen property. Both are criminals. Wild animals are the property of us all, until legally taken. All that means is that you have the permission of the landowner. In the case of public land, of which I am one of the owners, I have always taken the view that I have granted myself permission to hunt.

Yes another way of looking at this John is. We have up until recently enjoyed access through and onto Mangoahane Station for about 50 years. First as cullers where we were blamed for the deer which had been released years before by the Acclimatization Society. We were often told, you guys let the bloody deer go now they are eating our crop so get rid of the bastards.Now then only a year or two down the track when the meat hunting started we were told 'Don't shoot the bloody deer, they belong to us they are eating Mangoahane tucker so they are ours.

Then, thank God I lived so long. One night, when we were camped in Smythes Hut the Manager of Mangohane, who went there and we knew as a young Shepherd. Came up to the hut to get on the Piss. During the night Hamish Speedy the same Manager said 'Graeme we let you in here to keep the deer numbers down and you are not keeping them off the crops and there are too bloody many of them. Breath taking it was that I was somehow responsible for the deer numbers once again. I said Hamish I am glad that I have lived long enough to have seen three changes of mine among you bloody Cockies. You are a versatile bunch alright when you want to be and I laughed so hard that Hamish started to spit the dummy and I thought I was going to get booted off the property once and for all.The Station was sold and the new owner without by your leave, kiss my arse, or anything booted us off. Over the years we had helped with the Docking, Trapped all the possums, cut much of the scrub, and put up miles of fence-lines and kept the deer population trimmed, so we always earned our keep.

Happy wrote:And I agree with the above completely. Doing that in privately owned blocks must however be the same as killing someones beefy Its kinda theft at the end of that for sure....

Wrong! Unless your private land is deer-fenced, and the animals within that fence are ear-tagged, the animals living on that block are wild animals. They are not the property of the land owner. They are crown property. In effect part of the Commons. The land owner has the right to restrict access to the property, or even charge for access to the property, but he may not sell the right to shoot an animal or charge to hunt an animal that is not his property. Doing so is theft.To be clear, a land owner selling hunting rights, or charging per animal shot, is a thief. The person purchasing the right , or an animal from a landowner is a receiver of stolen property. Both are criminals. Wild animals are the property of us all, until legally taken. All that means is that you have the permission of the landowner. In the case of public land, of which I am one of the owners, I have always taken the view that I have granted myself permission to hunt.

Yes another way of looking at this John is. We have up until recently enjoyed access through and onto Mangoahane Station for about 50 years. First as cullers where we were blamed for the deer which had been released years before by the Acclimatization Society. We were often told, you guys let the bloody deer go now they are eating our crop so get rid of the bastards.Now then only a year or two down the track when the meat hunting started we were told 'Don't shoot the bloody deer, they belong to us they are eating Mangoahane tucker so they are ours.

Then, thank God I lived so long. One night, when we were camped in Smythes Hut the Manager of Mangohane, who went there and we knew as a young Shepherd. Came up to the hut to get on the Piss. During the night Hamish Speedy the same Manager said 'Graeme we let you in here to keep the deer numbers down and you are not keeping them off the crops and there are too bloody many of them. Breath taking it was that I was somehow responsible for the deer numbers once again. I said Hamish I am glad that I have lived long enough to have seen three changes of mine among you bloody Cockies. You are a versatile bunch alright when you want to be and I laughed so hard that Hamish started to spit the dummy and I thought I was going to get booted off the property once and for all.The Station was sold and the new owner without by your leave, kiss my arse, or anything booted us off. Over the years we had helped with the Docking, Trapped all the possums, cut much of the scrub, and put up miles of fence-lines and kept the deer population trimmed, so we always earned our keep.

Even tho you got kicked off ‘Scribe ‘ I’d say you made the most of the opportunities...

Happy wrote:But it is hard for me to believe in a system, in fact I don't believe in one, where on public land people can be prosecuted for hunting animals that in the long and short term that are destined to be culled by Helicopter or poisoned deliberately by aerial 1080 drops.

And I agree with the above completely. Doing that in privately owned blocks must however be the same as killing someones beefy Its kinda theft at the end of that for sure....